MOSCOW, June 28 (RIA Novosti) – A bill was submitted to parliament on Friday seeking to strip the Russian Academy of Sciences of its right to manage its own property.
The government has said the measure, which would see the Academy of Sciences merged with the Russian academies of agriculture and medicine, is designed to help scholars focus on their work. A new state agency, controlled by the prime minister, would manage the combined property of all those academies.
A senior lawmaker said Thursday that the bill could be approved by the lower house of parliament before the legislature recesses for summer vacation on July 14.
The Academy of Sciences has not voiced its official position on the matter, but individual members speaking to the media have denounced the measure as “hijacking.” For years, the government has been accusing the academy of “ineffectiveness.”
The revamped academy would count monitoring and revision of state-funded research and development projects among its main tasks, according to the text of the bill, available on the parliament’s website.
